The Dallas Cowboys’ wide receiver unit will head into the 2025 season facing numerous questions, particularly beyond their top two receivers, which is why Pro Football Focus placed Dallas at No. 15 in its receiving corps rankings ahead of the season. The ranking also includes running backs and tight ends.
Starting withe the obvious, CeeDee Lamb remains one of the league’s most dynamic wideouts and is easily the engine of this group. But after a slight dip in production last season, where he earned a 79.9 PFF receiving grade, down from 91.2 the year before, there’s hope that a fully healthy Dak Prescott, as well as a healthy Lamb who dealt with a shoulder injury and was held out of the final two games of last season, can help him bounce back to All-Pro form.
CeeDee Lamb carries the Cowboys’ ranking here. His 79.9 PFF receiving grade in 2024 was low for his standards, but he recorded a 91.2 mark the year prior when Dak Prescott was fully healthy. Dallas traded for George Pickens, who is coming off a career-high 78.6 PFF overall grade, but they need more from Jake Ferguson, Jalen Tolbert and someone — anyone — out of the backfield.
Dallas’ biggest swing of the offseason came in the form of George Pickens, acquired in a bold trade to give Lamb a true complement on the outside. Pickens posted a career-high 78.6 overall grade in 2024 and brings a level of physicality and vertical speed that could open things up underneath.
Still, beyond those two, the issue lies in depth. Tight end Jake Ferguson wasn’t able to replicate his Pro Bowl campaign in 2023 and failed to score a single touchdown last season. Jalen Tolbert enters Year 4 and is looking to carve out a larger and more consistent role. The running backs, whether it’s Miles Sanders, who has 175 receptions and over 1,200 yards in his career, Javonte Williams, who caught a career-high 52 receptions in Denver last season, or rookie Jaydon Blue, who had six touchdowns through the air at Texas last season, will all look to prove they can reliably contribute in the passing game.
If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Prescott has developed good chemistry with the current receiver core, which also includes KaVontae Turpin, Ryan Flournoy, Jonathan Mingo, Jalen Moreno-Cropper, Kelvin Harmon, and Jalen Brooks. They will compete for spots at training camp alongside new additions such as veteran Parris Campbell and rookies Traeshon Holden and Josh Kelly.
For now, the offense confidently knows it has two outside receivers who can win one-on-one matchups, which should make things easier for everyone, especially if Brian Schottenheimer is serious about pushing the ball vertically
In a conference loaded with elite weapons, including Philadelphia’s dynamic duo that ranked first on the list, the Cowboys still have some work to do if they want to stack up. But with Lamb and Pickens leading the way, Dallas at least has a foundation to build around.
Now it’s just a matter of who steps up behind them.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Even with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, Cowboys’ WR room lands outside Top 10
Reporting by Ali Jawad, Cowboys Wire / Cowboys Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
